Rotary shafts – gudgeons – housings – and flexible couplings for ro – Torque transmitted via flexible element – Nonmetallic element
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-22
2001-07-31
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3629)
Rotary shafts, gudgeons, housings, and flexible couplings for ro
Torque transmitted via flexible element
Nonmetallic element
C464S052000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267680
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a device for connecting, to an external part, an inner armature core of a flexible joint, this core being moreover connected to an outer armature by a mass of flexible material.
It could be, for example, in the motor vehicle area, a flexible joint device for connecting a front suspension arm to the vehicle sub-frame.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In
FIGS. 1
to
3
of the drawings here appended, different known devices are shown in axial cross section, along the joint axis. In these figures, the joint device D is intended to provide the flexible connection between an arm T and a sub-frame B of the vehicle (or a part which is integral with it), the arm and sub-frame being only partially shown.
In
FIG. 1
, the outer armature
1
of the joint device D is mounted with a tight fit in a corresponding housing of the arm T, the device including, as inner armature
2
, a tube passed through by a bolt
3
the end nut
4
of which enables the sub-frame to be clamped between the branches of a clevis
5
, an elastomer sleeve
6
being bonded between the two armatures.
In
FIG. 2
, wherein the same references denote the same parts, the outer armature
1
is mounted with a tight fit, in the same way as in
FIG. 1
, in a housing of the sub-frame B; a spindle
7
of the arm T is cantilevered, tightly fitting in the bore
8
of the tube
2
.
In
FIG. 3
, the outer armature
1
is again mounted with a tight fit in a corresponding housing of the arm T, and the outer armature
2
is constituted by a tube the ends of which, being external to the sleeve
6
, are crushed and drilled with holes enabling them to be fixed on the sub-frame by means of studs
9
and nuts
10
.
When the inner armature
2
is made by cold forming and machining, the manufacture is expensive and the moulding of the elastomer sleeve is more complex.
When the inner armature
2
is made from a tube the ends of which are crushed and punched after the rubber has been moulded, the choice of inner tube diameter and thickness is restricted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to overcome these various drawbacks of the prior art, and to ensure that, for ease of manufacture, the fixing means of the inner armature (holes or the like) can be constituted on different parts of this armature, adjustable on this latter.
To this end, a device of the general type defined at the beginning is, in accordance with the present invention, characterised in that the said core is constituted by a thick tube comprising centrally a through, rectangular and narrow opening, and in that the said device comprises two connection strips each having:
a body of constant width able to engage with a tight fit, along this width, in the said opening in the core, along the long side of the rectangular section of this opening;
an end head approximately wider than the said body and able to rest against the corresponding end of the said core when the body is engaged in the said rectangular opening in this core, the said strip then protruding at its other end; and
a fixing hole near each of the two ends of the strip, namely one in its head and the other towards the opposite end, the head hole of one of the strips lying over the hole of the said opposite end of the other strip when these two strips are engaged by being superposed head to foot in the said rectangular opening in the core.
Thus the two connection strips machined to the required dimensions and drilled will be able to engage in the rectangular opening in the core, and this after the moulding stage of the mass of flexible material. Additionally, the setting of the two strips in the core comprises an extremely straightforward operation, and the strips are very easy to mass-produce, since they can all be identical.
To advantage and so as to facilitate the installation of the connection strips in the core, provision may also be made for the terminal part of each strip, on the opposite side to the head, to be slightly less wide than the body of the strip, i.e. slightly less than the length of the long side of the rectangular section of the opening in the core, this over a length slightly more than half the length of the said core.
In this way, when first inserted into the opening passing through the core, the two strips will be able to overlap with clearance before it is necessary to press them so as to force the body of the strips into this opening.
Also to advantage, on each strip the two fixing holes have slightly different diameters to allow for assembly tolerances.
Provision may also be made for the said core to comprise axially a bore constituting a central widening of the said rectangular opening, which will if need be enable the known assemblies described above with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
to be obtained with the same core.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1779663 (1930-10-01), Cowell
patent: 1783801 (1930-12-01), Leipert
patent: 3140081 (1964-07-01), Peterson
patent: 3722843 (1973-03-01), Enckler
patent: 4051905 (1977-10-01), Kleine
patent: 4078276 (1978-03-01), Nunes
patent: 4329826 (1982-05-01), Flogaus et al.
patent: 4854561 (1989-08-01), Kanda
patent: 5024425 (1991-06-01), Schwerdt
patent: 5680733 (1997-10-01), Mitani
patent: 1 054 849 (1953-09-01), None
patent: 81 29 047 (1982-04-01), None
patent: 2 675 231 (1991-11-01), None
French Preliminary Search Report dated Nov. 16, 1998, Int'l. Appl. No. FR 9802189.
Girard Andre
Labbe Jean-Claude
Leroy Jean-François
Browne Lynne H.
Dunwoody Aaron M
Hutchinson
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
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